The Expedition to Samosata was undertaken by the future Baldwin I of Jerusalem following his ascension to co-regent of

Edessa Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...

as a part of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

. His main goal was to eliminate the Emirate of Samosata as a commercial and military rival of the Edessene state. The expedition was carried out from 14 to 20 February 1098.

Background

Baldwin decided upon his ascension of co-regent of Edessa that Samosata would have to be eliminated in order for his new county to fully control the surrounding countryside and to establish unbroken communications with

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

in the west and the crusaders sieging

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

in the south. The Armenian, Christian inhabitants of Edessa enthusiastically supported his plan, and the main part of their military accompanied him. He set out on 14 February, also accompanied by an Armenian princeling,

Constantine of Gargar Constantine of Gargar was an Armenian chieftain who ruled the region around Gargar (modern Gerger) in the late eleventh and early twelfth century. Biography Origins Constantine appears as one of the Armenian leaders who took control of parts of ...

Expedition

Despite the help of the Edessene militia, the expedition was not to turn out favorably for Baldwin. The Edessenes were poor, inexperienced soldiers, and the company was quickly caught in an ambush by the Turks of Samosata, who slew around a thousand of them in the ensuing battle. Baldwin, however, did manage to capture and garrison the village of St. John, which was close to Balduk's capital. From this point, he was able to control the flow of the Turks in and out of the city, resulting in a decline in Turkish raids into the Edessene countryside.

References

Sources

{{cite book, last1=Runciman, first1=Steven, title=A History of the Crusades I: The First Crusade, date=1951–52, publisher=Penguin Classics, isbn=978-0-141-98550-3, pages= First Crusade 1098 in Europe